


Encounter in Rome

by raynewton



Category: Highlander: The Series, Torchwood
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-05
Updated: 2013-11-05
Packaged: 2017-12-31 14:33:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1032801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raynewton/pseuds/raynewton
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A meeting in Rome</p>
            </blockquote>





	Encounter in Rome

Rome, 25th April 3292

The man currently using his favourite alias of Adam Pierson strode quickly across the Piazza del Popolo. Unlike the eager tourists around him he kept his eyes lowered, not even tempted to gaze around him. He had not expected this reaction, which had struck him almost as soon as his plane landed, a strange reluctance to acknowledge his surroundings. Pity he hadn't decided to take a later flight - if he had done so Duncan would be already waiting for him at their rendezvous. As it was the flight from China had only just landed, and it would be the best part of an hour before his companion would join him.

Finding a table at the cafe where they had chosen to meet, he ordered a coffee and opened the guide book he had picked up at the airport, smiling at the incongruity of the action. He, who had lived so long, was reading a guide to the most famous city on the planet, images of which were imprinted on the consciousness of millions of people who had never seen it and never would.

He closed his eyes for a moment, feeling the warmth of the sun on his face, listening to the low murmur of liquid Italian that hummed in the air, replacing the memories of the songbirds that had once flitted among the poplars. The bitter taste of coffee was in his mouth, its aroma in his nostrils - all that was lacking, he mused, was the sense of touch, and when Duncan arrived...

Shaking his head in amusement at his own fancies he glanced down again at his book, planning the possible routes he might take. There was so much he wanted to see, but... not alone.

His finger traced the contours of the fold-out map as he tried to relate the lines and symbols to long-ago memories that...

Methos looked up sharply, every sense alert, his reactions as instinctive as breathing. There was no immediate danger - this was a public place - and Santa Maria in the north-east corner offered swift access to holy ground should it be needed.

He relaxed slightly, and only then perceived something different, something unique, in the sensation that rolled over him. This was not the warning buzz that signalled the presence of a fellow Immortal - not quite. 

Casually he glanced around, trying to find the source of the alert. Not the two teenagers, he was certain, who were laughing in relief as they lowered heavy backpacks to the ground. Two tables over a handsome young man in a dark formal suit, deep red shirt and silk tie sat with eyes closed, smiling faintly as he savoured his own coffee. A Japanese couple giggled excitedly as they pored over the viewing screen of their camera. Two Arabs, one in dazzling white robes which might conceal the sword every Immortal relied on. A woman of indeterminate age with the style and elegance only Italian women seemed able to achieve rose to greet a younger man who was hurrying towards her. Friend? Marchetto? Son? Lover? He could be any as the two exchanged a formal kiss of greeting.

The curious thing was that no-one seemed to be reacting to his own presence. Surely the warning must have gone both ways? 

Giving himself time to think he signaled for another coffee. A faint memory began to tease at the edges of his mind. More and more he began to be certain he had encountered a similar signal once before and that it posed no threat to him. However, he was also certain that he had never before encountered any of the people near him.

Methos glanced at his watch, feeling a ripple of anticipation as he thought that Duncan would be here soon. How long had it been now since he had first encountered the Highlander? He was already unimaginably old when he had first met the younger Immortal at the very end of the 20th century, and they had been together ever since. Over a thousand years - mere moments measured against his life span, but he would always treasure them as the most valuable he had ever known.

There! The unmistakeable signature of a nearby Immortal sang along his nerves, dimming that other signal to insignificance. Methos was on his feet, hands outstreched in greeting as Duncan crossed the Piazza. They exchanged a quick but heartfelt kiss of greeting then sat down to begin catching up on the details of their weeks apart.

As the first rush of conversation died Methos smiled as he noticed Duncan begin to glance around, a tiny frown of puzzlement creasing his forehead.

"Ah, you can sense it too?" he asked.

Duncan nodded. "What is it, do you think? I sense no threat, but it is so like our warning."

"Whatever it is, I'm sure it means us no harm. Now..."

He broke off as his eye was caught by movement across the Piazza. A tall, dark-haired man clad in a long flowing coat was striding towards the the cafe, his attention concentrated on the young man Methos had already noticed two tables over.

"Ianto!" he called, with a note of satisfaction in his voice that made the two Immortals smile in recognition - this could only be a man greeting his lover.

The other man rose, and was swept into an enthusiatic embrace that could never be mistaken for a formal greeting.

"Pleased to see me, Jack?" he asked indulgently when his lips were free to speak.

"And how!" the other replied, swinging his partner around as they both laughed in delight.

For a moment Methos found himself gazing into blue eyes, a half-familiar face, and realised that the signature hum he had felt had now doubled in strength - whatever it was these two were the source.

"Then let's go, cariad," the other man - Ianto - said, throwing some notes on the table. "I'm sure you have plenty to... tell me."

Before Methos could decide whether or not to approach them they turned and were gone, their laughter echoing behind him.

Methis frowned. A memory floated teasingly close of a city in the rain and a man who had helped track a rogue Immortal, a man who must be long long dead...

"What's wrong?" Duncan asked. "Did you remember something?"

"Something," Methos agreed, "but I'm not sure what. A name... Torchwood." He shook his head. "It'll come to me in time."

Leaning across the table he opened the guide book and thrust it into Duncan's hands, eager as a child to begin a promised treat. "Where shall we go first? There's so much I want to see, so much that's new. The Trevi, St Peter's..."

Duncan laughed affectionately. "Only you could call St Peter's 'new'. It was built in the 16th century, wasn't it? You must have been here since then."

Methos reached over and clasped Duncan's hand. "Rome was... very special to me," he said haltingly. "I had a home once on the Esquiline Hill, before the Christians came, and I walked in the forum when Hadrian was Emperor. I came back and back again until... Well, I fell foul of the Borgia, and had to flee... I'll tell you the story soon, but the memories were... I could not bear to come back. Now, with you, I want to see the city again."

Duncan smiled, and brought Methos' hand to his lips. "We'll see it together," he promised, "and I will see it through your eyes."

"I'm almost afraid," Methos said hesitantly. "I haven't even looked around," he confessed. "The feelings were... disconcerting.

"You hadn't expected it," Duncan said.

"No, I suppose I hadn't," Methos replied slowly.

And he hadn't. For it was eighteen hundred years since he had last seen Rome.

 

*******

 

The Three Gentlemen by A.E.W. Mason. 1313 words.

 

************

**Author's Note:**

> This was the response to a prompt using the last line of a favourite book


End file.
